1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in a carrier for long, shafted sports equipment and more particularly to a hand held carrier.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Long, shafted, sports equipment is awkward to carry. Ice hockey sticks, for example, are typically more than four feet long. Because hockey sticks can break or crack during use, players often carry at least two sticks.
It is fatiguing and uncomfortable to carry long shafted equipment vertically or unbalanced for long distances, such as from a car in a parking lot to an arena or playing field. Carrying long shafted equipment, such as hockey sticks, vertically or unbalanced locks the wrist in a flexed position, which over time is fatiguing and uncomfortable. If the player grasps the sticks away from their center of gravity, the unbalanced sticks flex the wrist away from a neutral.position. Furthermore, the sticks"" center of gravity concentrates the weight on the flexed wrist which additionally stresses the wrist.
Carrying hockey sticks horizontally stresses the wrist less. When carrying the sticks horizontally, however, they jut out several feet in front and behind the player. In order to open doors and walk through doorways or narrow corridors to the locker room, the player must tip the sticks vertically. Similarly if the doorway or corridor is crowded, the user must tip the sticks to avoid striking others.
The holder shown in FIG. 7, for example, allows the stick to be carried horizontally. The design of the locking portion, however, allows only one stick to be carried.
Players usually carry more than just sports sticks. Players must carry the sticks and all of the requisite gear associated with their particular sport. The player""s gear usually comprises bulky additional equipment, such as protective padding, uniforms, skates or shoes, helmets, pucks or balls, and the like. In colder weather, the player may also struggle with heavy winter clothing, boots and gloves. The player carries all of this gear from the parking lot into the ice arena and to the locker room, often over long distances and in one trip.
An additional problem is designing a carrier for a player to easily insert and remove one or more shafted stick. Carriers with long locking portions are cumbersome when inserting and removing the shaft of the stick. The sidewalls of the carrier must be forced apart to insert the shaft, often requiring both hands to lock the stick into place. Because more of the shaft is locked into the carrier, the shaft will not release as readily from the carrier, again requiring the use of two hands to force apart the sidewalls. These steps become more difficult in colder weather, when hands are cold and stiff and possibly gloved.
Carriers using only a single short locking portion have other problems. While the shaft is easier to insert and remove in the short locking portion, less shaft locks within the carrier. The shafted stick is therefore more prone to being off balance while being carried, unless the user evenly distributes the weight of the stick. Additionally, if the stick catches on something, the stick can easily pop out of the carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,379 issued to the inventor Jeffrey A. Pikel and incorporated in its entirety herein by reference, discloses a carrier for shafted sports equipment that solves many of these problems. The carrier uses two shaftholders to lock the stick firmly in place. Yet, the design easily allows the user to remove the sticks from the shaftholders, even with gloved hands. The shaftholder of the carrier also accommodates shafts with minor differences in their widths, generally ranging up to about 0.1 in.
Shafted sticks, however, come in a large variety of widths and heights. Children""s hockey sticks, for example, have narrower widths than adult hockey sticks, the difference being greater than about 0.1 in. Therefore, a child must use a different carrier than an adult. To accommodate these different widths, a variety of carriers must be made which increases costs in both manufacturing and inventory.
Carrying hockey sticks horizontally, with the wrist hanging unflexed from the arm, aids comfort, provided the sticks do not slide apart or become crossed. It would be advantageous for a carrier to firmly position one or more sticks, and to allow the quick, positive movement of the sticks to a vertical position to fit through tight spaces and avoid hitting others. To meet these and other objectives, it is one object of the invention to provide a lightweight handheld carrier into which a player can easily insert a shaft in such a way that the stick is easily balanced in the carrier upon insertion to reduce stress on the wrist. It is another object of the invention to provide a carrier in which the shafts, or the hand, may be readily repositioned to maintain the sticks in balance to reduce the stress on the wrist. It is still another object of the invention to provide a carrier from which the shafts may be readily extracted. It is a still further object of the invention to provide a carrier which may be readily moved to reposition the shafts to a vertical or other desired orientation. It is another object of the invention to provide a carrier that can accept a wide range of shaft widths.
The carrier of the invention is for sports equipment with a shaft. The carrier has a base having opposite ends with first and second shaftholders on a face of the base. The shaftholders are aligned to jointly engage the shaft Each shaftholder has an inner sidewall between a pair of outer sidewalls. The outer sidewalls form the sides and curve proximally from the base and have a shoulder, a first portion curving from the base away from the inner sidewall and a second portion curving from the first portion toward the inner sidewall. The shoulders are outwardly angled and extend along the length of the outer sidewall distal to the base. A handle depends from the base and extends from a second face of the carrier opposite the face from which the shaftholders extend.
Other embodiments of the carrier of the invention include ears projecting from opposite sides of the inner sidewall toward the outer sidewalls and extending along the length of the shaftholder. This embodiment can also include ribs depending from the base along the length of the shaftholder and located between the outer and inner sidewalls.
Additional effects, features and advantages will be apparent in the written description that follows.